Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai is known for her beauty as well as her acting. She has delivered many great films that have become superhits. However there was one film that even the makers regretted making. Due to this they suffered losses for 12 years. Based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada the movie is about the famous Tawaifs. Aishwarya Rai stars in the lead role along with Abhishek Bachchan Shabana Azmi Sunil Shetty Divya Dutta Himani Shivpuri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in supporting roles. The film in question is Umrao Jaan which was released in 2006. The original Umrao Jaan was released in 1981 with Rekha in the lead role and it was a massive success at the box office. After the film became a blockbuster the makers decided to remake it in 2006. However this decision proved to be a costly mistake resulting in significant losses for the producers. This film resulted in significant losses. Made on a budget of Rs 15 crore Umrao Jaan was released on 3 November 2006 and grossed over Rs 19.52 crore. The surprising part was not the earnings! Aishwarya Rai was not the makers first choice for the lead role. Before her Priyanka Chopra was offered the role but she declined. Umrao Jaan was directed by JP Dutta who once said At one point I had to make a decision. I wanted to work with Priyanka. I had envisioned her as Umrao Jaan. However Priyanka refused the film as her dates were already booked. This left Dutta very disappointed and he was unable to make any films for the next 12 years. He eventually returned in 2018 with Paltan but that film also failed at the box office.